Book having subdivisions and means to locate the first leaf of each subdivision

ABSTRACT

A book having a plurality of subdivisions which consist of a varying number of leaves. Reference leaves are located at the front and back of the book and flank the subdivisions. All the leaves are the same width except those which precede the first leaf of a subdivision, these are narrower. As a result of the above construction a person can thumb through the book and as he does so there will be a slight pause in the passage (flexing) of leaves past his thumb as each narrower leaf slips beneath his thumb and momentarily rests on the first leaf of the following subdivision for the period of the pause. This enables a user to more rapidly locate and stop at the first page of any desired subdivision.

United States Patent Friedman Oct. 24, 1972 [72] Inventor: Arthur S. Friedman, Merrick, NY.

[73] Assignee: Carey Press Corporation, New

York, NY.

[22] Filed: Nov. 2, I970 [2|] Appl. No.: 86,178

[52] US. Cl ..283/38 [51] Int. Cl. ..B42f 21/12 [58] 1 Field of Search ..283/36-42 [56] I References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 447.371 3/1891 Silvera ..283/36 535,351 3/1895 Brashear ..283/37 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 696,823 10/1965 ltaly ..283/36 Primary Examiner-Lawrence Charles Attorney-Kirschstein, Kirschstein, Ottinger & Frank [57] ABSTRACT A book having a plurality of subdivisions which consist of a varying number of leaves. Reference leaves are located at the front and back of the book and flank the subdivisions. All the leaves are the same width except those which precede the first leaf of a subdivision, these are narrower. As a result of the above construction a person can thumb through the book and as he does so there will be a slight pause in the passage (flexing) of leaves past his thumb as each narrower leaf slips beneath his thumb and momentarily rests on the first leaf of the following subdivision for the period of the pause. This enables a user to more rapidly locate and stop at the first page of any desired subdivision.

1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures LOCATE THE FIRST LEAF OF EACH SUBDIVISION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention Book with a plurality of subdivisions and meansfor facilitating location of the first page of each subdivision. 1

2. Description of the Prior Art Books such as dictionaries, personal telephone directories, address books, digests, bibles, diaries, texts, references and the like generally include subdivisions. As an example, in a personal telephone directory there are subdivisions contained therein for each letter of the alphabet or, in some instances, for different grouped sequential letters of the alphabet. Usually in a personal telephone directory the number of pages in each subdivision varies. As an example, the subdivision which includes the letter A may have more pages than the subdivision which includes the letter Z. This, of course, is logical since more surnames beging with the letter A than the letter Z.

In many books each subdivision includes an index page that is on the right side of the book (the side opposite the bound side) when the book is opened to that page and which is the first page of the group of pages that comprise the subdivision. Usually, information identifying the subdivision is located on the index page adjacent the right edge thereof.

There have been a number of different techniques devised for enabling a person to rapidly locate a desired subdivision in a book and the index page thereof in particular.

As an example, the prior art taught attaching lettered half-circular wafers to the front surface adjacent the right edges of the index pages of a book having a plurality of subdivisions, and cutting out thumb notches, registered indentations of progressively lessor size, in several preceding pages. The idea being that one would thus quickly see the wafer of a desired index page and then place his thumb on the wafer to open the book to that index page. However, quite often the wafers would come loose, thus detracting from this technique of locating an index page in a book having a plurality of index pages. Other prior art techniques for locating the index pages of a book having a plurality of subdivisions were not altogether satisfactory since they didnot enable the pages to be located quickly accurately and with a minimum of effort. They also didnot lend themselves to use in books with but few pages, such as personal telephone directories and address books.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a a principal object of the present invention to provide improved means for locating a particular subdivision in a book having aplurality of subdivisions.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide improved indexing means for locating a particular subdivision in a book having a plurality of subdivisions, the indexing means allowing the particular subdivision to be quickly and effortlessly located.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an indexing means for a book of the character described in which the leaves are so constructed that uponthumbing through the book, the book will readily open to the index pages thereof.

Another object o the present invention is to provide indexing means for a book of the type described capable of achieving each of the foregoing and other objects and which is simple to use.

Briefly, in accordance with the present invention the foregoing and other objects are accomplished in a bound book such as a personal telephone directory, digest reference and the like having a plurality of subdivisions which consist of varying numbers of leaves. The page which starts each subdivision is on the right side 0 the book when the book is opened to that page and has indicia thereon indicative of the particular subdivision. The indicia is at right edge of the page so that it can easily be seen. Each leaf which precedes a subdivision is of a narrower width than the first leaf of that subdivision except that if no leaf precedes the first subdivison there need be no narrower leaf preceding this subdivision. The leaves in the subdivisions are the same width as the first leaf thereof except if the subdivision is followed by another subdivision in which case the last leaf is of a narrower width.

As a result of the above construction a person can thumb through the leaves which comprise the book starting with the first leaf of the first subdivision and as he does so his thumb will momentarily pause on the first leaf of the next subdivision. Continued thumbing results in the persons thumb momentarily pausing on the first leaves of successive subdivisions. At each tachtiscopic pause the persons eyes will flick over the identifying indicia which are exposed because of the shortness of width of the preceding leaf and the first leaf will be flared back somewhat. more than it would be if all the leaves were of the same width. Also the narrowness of the preceding page exposes the indicia at the right side of the first page of the following subsection. If the subdivision thus identified is the one desired the thumbing is stopped. Alternatively, the person can flip through the book and pause at the first subdivision, and if this is not the desired subdivision the person can thumb through the book to the next subdivision repeating these steps until the desired subdivision is reached.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the book hereinafter described and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawing in which is shown one of the various possible embodiments of the invention:

FIG. is a perspective view of a personal telephone directo y according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the personal telephone directory of the present invention in a partially opened position;

FIG. 3 is a plan partially broken view looking down at the personal telephone directory of the present invention wherein the directory is opened to the first page of a particular subdivision; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view taken substantially along the line 44 of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the figures a personal telephone directory embodying the principles of the present invention is shown. It is to be appreciated that the indexing technique of the present invention can be used with any sort or book having a plurality of subdivisions such as dictionaries, digests, bibles, diaries, references, address books and the like and reference to a personal telephone directory is for illustrative purposes only. Directory 10 includes a spiral ring binder 12 at one side (the left side) to which are attached a plurality of leaves 16. As is conventional, a cover 14 and back (not seen in the drawings) flank the leaves of the directory. It is to be appreciated that while directory 10 is shown having a spiral binder, any type of binding means could be used for holding the leaves together such as staples, stitching etc., and the use of a spiral binder is for illustrative purposes only.

The leaves 16 of the directory are divided into a number of subdivisions in accordance with any desired arrangement. Reference leaves are located at the front and back of the directory flanking the subdivisions. etc., can be located on the reference leaves. Since directory 10 is intended to be use for providing ready access to different telephone numbers the subdivisions are groups of adjacent letters in the alphabet. Thus, as can be seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, one subdivision consists of leaves for the telephone numbers and addresses of persons having surnames which start with the letters K, L while another subdivision consists of leaves for the telephone numbers and addresses of people whose surnames begin with the letters M, N, O, etc. Since the means for locating each subdivision is identical, a description of the said means for the leaves which comprise the subdivision M, N, O is herein set forth and will suffice for an understanding of the present invention.

Three leaves 18, 20, 22 comprise subdivision M, N, O and the next subdivision is for the letters P, Q and R (not seen in' the FIGS.) The front surface (page) 24 of the first leaf 18 in subdivision M, N, O is the index page for the subdivision and has indicia 26 thereon adjacent its right edge which identify the subdivision. Leaf 28 which precedes leaf 18 is of a narrower width than leaf 18 being sufficiently narrower to expose indicia 26 when the right edge of the leaves are flipped past a users thumb. Preferably leaf 28 is about about one half inch narrower in width than the width of leaf 18, thus being about double the width of the indicia 26. In a similar fashion the last leaf of the M, N, O subdivision is of a narrower width than the preceding leaves of the subdivision which are all as wide as the cover and back of the directory thereby the indicia of the next subdivision will be exposed when thumbing the directory. When the subdivisions are comprised of several leaves each two or a few consecutive ones of the last leave may be of like narrow width.

Each leaf in the M, N, O subdivision has a bound edge, a top and bottom edge and a far edge. The top and bottom edges of each leaf are parallel to each other, extend between the ends of the bound and far edges and are the same distance apart from each other as is the distance between these edges of all the other leaves in the directory. The far edge of each leaf is allltthbodd fthlafd t th fa le f 8r le ves iii tlse l divis ioii is ilie gr iiie wi ih a;

the cover and back of the book. Additionally, the leaves in the other subdivisions which are of a reduced width are of the same size. The last leaf of the last subdivision need not be of a reduced width since there is no index page in a following subdivision which must be easily located. Of course, the last leaf of the last subdivision can be cut back if it is desired to easily locate reference leaves following thereafter. The last leaf or leaves of the reference leaf at the front of the book is the same size as the last leaf of the M, N, O subdivisions i.e., of ordered width. The other reference leaves at the front and back of the book are the same size as the first leaf of the M, N, O subdivision.

The techniques of using the book have been set forth above.

It is thus readily apparent that an indexing means is provided which enables a person to rapidly locate any index page in a book having a plurality of subdivisions. If desired, the use of reference leaves can be eliminated as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. I

It is thus shown that a book is provided which achieves the objects of the invention as well as other objects not specifically herein set forth, and that is well adapted to'meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes may be made in the embodiment set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein described or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illus trative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described the present invention there is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent:

v l. A book having indexing means, said book comprising a number of subdivisions, a plurality of leaves in each subdivision, each leaf having a first edge and a second edge, means for binding together the first edges of said leaves, each leaf in each subdivision being imperforate adjacent the second edge of said leaf, the second edge of each leaf being parallel to the bound first edge thereof and being free and rectilinear, the first page of the first leaf of each subdivision having indexing indicia thereon uniquely indicative of that subdivision, said indicia being disposed adjacent the second edge thereof, the distance between the first edge and the second edge of only the leaf of a given subdivision which precedes the first leaf in a following subdivision being less than the distance between the second edge and the first edge of the other leaves in the given subdivision, whereby when a person thumbs through the book there will be a slight pause in the flexing of the leaves past his thumb as each narrower leaf reaches his thumband momentarily rests on the first leaf of the following subdivision for the period of the pause so that the first leaf of any subdivision can be rapidly located. 

1. A book having indexing means, said book comprising a number of subdivisions, a plurality of leaves in each subdivision, each leaf having a first edge and a second edge, means for binding together the first edges of said leaves, each leaf in each subdivision being imperforate adjacent the second edge of said leaf, the second edge of each leaf being parallel to the bound first edge thereof and being free and rectilinear, the first page of the first leaf of each subdivision having indexing indicia thereon uniquely indicative of that subdivision, said indicia being disposed adjacent the second edge thereof, the distance between the first edge and the second edge of only the leaf of a given subdivision which precedes the first leaf in a following subdivision being less than the distance between the second edge and the first edge of the other leaves in the given subdivision, whereby when a person thumbs through the book there will be a slight pause in the flexing of the leaves past his thumb as each narrower leaf reaches his thumb and momentarily rests on the first leaf of the following subdivision for the period of the pause so that the first leaf of any subdivision can be rapidly located. 